Private Nile Cruise Luxor to Aswan: 5 Days with Your Own Egyptologist

Included on Board and Ashore

The listing includes 4 nights on a 5-star Nile cruise on a full-board basis, all transfers by air-conditioned vehicles with qualified drivers, a private English-speaking Egyptology tour guide, meet and assist by English-speaking representatives, one bottle of water per person per day, and all local taxes and services. Cabin options are single, double and triple, each with a private bathroom. The listing does not name the ship, so treat the boat as or similar.

Vegetarian meals are available if you ask at booking. A valid passport is required on the day of travel. Guides in Arabic, German, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, French, Dutch and Spanish are listed alongside English.

• 4 nights, 5-star cruise ship, full board
• Private Egyptology guide for every shore tour
• All transfers by air-conditioned vehicle with a driver
• 1 bottle of water per person per day
• Local taxes and services, meet and assist at Luxor airport

What You Pay on Top

Temple entrance fees are the big open question. The inclusions list taxes and services but never mentions tickets, and the exclusions cover any extra not mentioned above. Most listings on this route charge temple tickets separately, so message the operator and get the answer in writing before you pay.

Tipping to the guide, driver and cruise staff is excluded, and tipping is customary on Egyptian cruises. Abu Simbel is an optional excursion at extra cost, reached by road south of Aswan on Lake Nasser, not on the river route. Laundry and personal expenses are excluded. No mandatory checkout charges are stated for this listing, which is not the case for the $950 4-night Luxor to Aswan listing. No peak-season surcharge is stated either, so ask the operator if you travel in the busiest weeks.

Line by Line

The table below sets each cost line against the listing. Figures for the cruise come from the operator's own inclusions and exclusions. Nothing here is an operator website price, only the catalog price of $980 per person.

Day 1, Arrival and East Bank Luxor

A representative meets you at Luxor airport on day 1 and takes you to the cruise. Lunch on board starts the full-board count. The afternoon covers Karnak, 2.5 km north of Luxor and Egypt's second most visited historic site after Giza, and Luxor Temple on the east bank.

Ancient Thebes held the living city on the east bank and the necropolis on the west, so day 1 is the living side. Dinner follows on board.

Day 2, the West Bank Tombs

The day goes to the west bank necropolis: the Valley of the Kings, the terraced Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. Expect walking over uneven ground in the tombs and at Hatshepsut, and pack water beyond the single bottle included. The ship then begins the southbound sailing.

Day 3, Edfu and Kom Ombo

The listing puts Edfu and Kom Ombo on day 3. Kom Ombo lies 50 km north of Aswan on the river itself. On the way to Edfu the ship passes the Esna lock south of Luxor.

The lock can add a wait of an hour or more, and in low-water periods some sailings are suspended or ships swap at locks, so build slack into the day.

Day 4, Aswan Sights

The Aswan block covers the High Dam, Philae Temple reached by motor boat, and the Unfinished Obelisk, which would have measured about 41.75 m and weighed nearly 1,090 tonnes before cracks ended the work. Philae reopened in 1980 after the temples were moved in the late 1970s. This is the day to arrange the optional Abu Simbel excursion, since Abu Simbel opens 6:00 to 17:00 and a road trip there is an early start.

Day 5, Disembarkation

Breakfast ends the board basis. The listing states no return time, and the trip ends at Aswan airport for a flight to Cairo, with transfers handled by the same air-conditioned vehicles. Confirm your flight time with the operator so the transfer matches.

If You Need Tickets Priced In

Entrance fees are not stated anywhere in the inclusions, and the exclusions cover any extra not mentioned above. If you want certainty at checkout, the 3-night cruise with temple tickets includes every entrance fee to the sights on its itinerary. For comparison, Philae lists at EGP 550 for foreign adults and the Valley of the Kings at EGP 750 in the ministry price list.

If the 6-Day Cancellation Window Is Too Tight

Free cancellation needs 6 full days of notice, you lose half from 2 to 6 days out, and you get nothing within 2 days. Travellers who may need to change plans at short notice should look at a listing with a 24-hour window, such as the 1-night Aswan to Luxor cruise or the 2-night small-group cruise.

If You Want Group Guide Prices Instead

The private guide is the point of this listing and the reason it costs more. The 4-night Luxor to Aswan cruise runs the same direction and length with a licensed Egyptologist in a group of up to 26 travellers at $950 per person, plus $100.83 in mandatory Viator charges at checkout. It takes adults 14 to 99 only, while this listing takes children from 6 to 11 with adults from 12 to 99, and infants must sit on an adult's lap.

Fitness, Heat and Access

The listing asks for at least a moderate level of physical fitness, and the temple visits mean real walking on uneven ground. Wheelchair access is listed, including accessible transport and all areas and surfaces, though the tomb floors themselves are demanding. Summer is the other limit: Aswan's average summer highs stay above 40 C, so the preferred season runs October to April.

In the cooler months Luxor averages a January high of 22.8 C, which makes the sightseeing far easier.

Reaching Luxor and Leaving Aswan

You are met at Luxor airport on day 1, so the simplest arrival is a flight from Cairo, 3h13m door to door per Rome2Rio over a distance Rome2Rio puts at 637.2 km by road. A train from Cairo to Luxor runs about 10h45m per Rome2Rio if you prefer land. At the end the cruise delivers you to Aswan airport for a flight to Cairo, with the listing's own transfer covering the ride.

Aswan airport lies somewhere around 10 to 16 km from the city centre, sources disagree, and the transfer is included either way.

Add Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel sits on Lake Nasser south of Aswan, roughly 230 to 290 km out, and it is an optional excursion on this cruise. The ministry lists the foreign adult ticket at EGP 750, open 6:00 to 17:00, and the trip means an early start by road. If Abu Simbel is a priority, the 3-night cruise with Abu Simbel and balloon builds it in from Aswan, or the Cairo package with flights adds it along with both flights.

Fill the Edges of the Trip

In Aswan a felucca ride is the classic addition. The Aswan felucca to Elephantine costs $15 for about an hour of sailing, or the overnight felucca from Aswan runs from $25 for options up to 3 nights. Before the cruise, read the guides to Edfu Temple and Philae Temple so the stops mean more.

For entry, the FCDO says your passport must be valid at least 6 months after arrival with a blank page, and Egypt raised the visa fee to US$45 in December per Gulf News, while the FCDO still lists US$30 on arrival, so check current rules.